wheeler



D. & D. 0. WHEELER.

- METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HATS. No. 286,244. Patented Oct. 9, 1883.

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UNITED Earns A'IFN'I FFIQEQ DWIGHT WHEELER AND DAVID 0. WHEELER, or EEIDeEPoET, coNN.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,244, dated October 9, 1883.

Application filed January 24, 1883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DWIGHT WHEELER and DAVID 0. WHEELER, both of Bridgeport, Fairfield county, Connecticut, have invented an Improved Method of lVIanufaeturing Hats, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention is an improved mode of man ufacturing hats, whereby we reduce the cost of material and manufacture, are enabled to use firmer material than that usually employed, and secure a greater variety in the product.

In the drawings, Figurel is a cross section illustrating a hat made in accordance with our improvement. Fig. 2 is a section of the brimpiece detached, and Fig. 3 a section of the crown-piece detached.

It is customary, in making fur, felt, cloth, and other hats with covering fabrics applied to the frame, to first mold the frame comprising the crown and brim in one piece, and then to apply the covering and lining. This necessitates the use of a very open, pliable material forthe frame, but it must be of such weight as to impart the desired thickness at the band portion. Moreover, it is expensive and difficult to apply the lining and covering pieces to the crown and brim, especially when one colored fabric is to be'applied to the crown and another to the brim. Sometimes a hat is made by placing the covering material and buckram sheets together, and then pressing up the whole hat at once; but this can only be done successfully when the covering material is of very loose texture, or the hat of a particular shape suited to this mode of manufacture. Otherwise there will always be an overlapping of body and material, and the ex cess of cloth will form itself into wrinkles.

To avoid these objections we make the crown in one piece and the brim in a separate piece, and cover each separately. Thus a sheet, a, of burlap, of much firmer texture than can be employed for forming a crown, A, and brim in one piece, is cut to the proper size to form the crown, is covered with size or other cement, and a sheet, I), of the lining material is applied to one side, and a sheet, 0, of the covering goods to the other side. This compound sheet is then molded into a crown, A, Fig. 3, in any suitable machine. The brim Bis made of three sheets, a b c, and molded in a similar (No model.)

manner, but upon molds constructed to form a flange, 6, round the central opening, 00, to enter or receive the mouth of the crown-piece, as shown in Fig. 1'. The brim and crown are then connected by sewing or by eyelets, or otherwise, at the point where they overlap. The overlapping of the flange c by the crown at the band portion of the hat imparts such strength at this point that material less in weight than would otherwise be required can be employed. As the brim and crown are covered separately, different materials can be employed, and can be applied more readily, I

neatly, and with less waste than where it is necessary to cover a hat-frame having the crown and brim in one piece. In some in stances the body of the crown may be made of a material that will render the use of a lining unnecessary, and the brim may be covered with one coating material on the upper side and a different coating material on the under side.

WVe are aware that straw and other singlefabric hats have been made in two sections. united at the brim, and this we do not claim; but

1. The within-described improvement inthe manufacture of hats, the same consisting of forming the crown of two or moresheets of fabric, one being the body-covering material, cemented together, forming aseparate brim in like manner, with an opening and flange, and then overlapping the crown and flange and securing the sections together at the part where they overlap, as set forth.

2. A hat consisting of a crown-seetion con1- posed of several layers of material cemented together, the outer being the covering material, a separate section similarly composed,

and having an opening, 00, and a flange, 6, that enters the crown and is secured thereto, as specified.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DWIGHT WHEELER. DAVID 0. WHEELER.

Witnesses:

L. S. CATLIN, J. M. OTIS. 

